ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) is a professional organization that represents pharmacists who serve as patient care providers in acute and ambulatory care settings. The organization’s 45,000 members include pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians. For more than 75 years, ASHP has been at the forefront of efforts to improve medication use and enhance patient safety.

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By 1939 a subsection of hospital pharmacists was formed in the American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA), and for the first time, hospital pharmacists had a voice in a national organization. In 1942, hospital pharmacists established the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, affiliated with APhA. In 1947, ASHP and APhA jointly established a hospital pharmacy division with permanent staffing.

The aim of the society is to advance and support the professional practice of pharmacists in hospitals and health systems and serve as their voice on issues related to medication use and public health. ASHP provides legislative advocacy on health system pharmacy issues, partly to achieve public policy that helps people make the best use of medicines.

1.
Bethesda, Maryland
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Bethesda is a census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, located just northwest of the U. S. capital of Washington, D. C. It takes its name from a church, the Bethesda Meeting House. In Aramaic, ܒܝܬ ܚܣܕܐ beth ḥesda means House of Mercy and in Hebrew, the National Institutes of Health main campus and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center are in Bethesda, as are a number of corporate and government headquarters. In 2014 it placed first in Forbes list of Americas most educated small towns, as an unincorporated area, Bethesda has no official boundaries. The United States Census Bureau defines a place named Bethesda whose center is located at 38°59′N 77°7′W. The United States Geological Survey has defined Bethesda as an area whose center is at 38°58′50″N 77°6′2″W, other definitions are used by the Bethesda Urban Planning District, the United States Postal Service, and other organizations. According to estimates released by the U. S. Census Bureau in 2013, Most of Bethesdas residents are in Maryland Legislative District 16. Bethesda is situated along a thoroughfare that was originally the route of an ancient Native American trail. Henry Fleet, an English fur trader, was the first European to travel to the area, Most early settlers in Maryland were tenant farmers who paid their rent in tobacco. A small settlement grew around a store and tollhouse along the turnpike, by 1862, the community was known as Darcys Store after the owner of a local establishment, William E. Darcy. The church burned in 1849 and was rebuilt the same year about 100 yards south at its present site. Throughout most of the 19th century, Bethesda never developed beyond a small village, consisting of a post office, a blacksmith shop, a church and school. It was not until the installation of a line in 1890. Until that time, dependence on proximity to rail lines insulated Bethesda from growth, the arrival of the personal automobile ended this dependency, and Bethesda planners grew the community with the newest transportation revolution in mind. Subdivisions began to appear on old farmland, becoming the neighborhoods of Drummond, Woodmont, Edgemoor, further north, several wealthy men made Rockville Pike famous for its mansions. These included Brainard W. Parker, James Oyster, George E. Hamilton, wilson, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, and George Freeland Peter. In 1930, Dr Armistead Peters pioneering manor house Winona became the clubhouse of the original Woodmont Country Club, merle Thorpes mansion, Pooks Hill —on the site of the current neighborhood of the same name—became the home-in-exile of the Norwegian Royal Family during World War II. That war, and the expansion of government that it created, both the National Naval Medical Center and the NIH complex were built just to the north of the developing downtown

2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

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Hospital
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A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized medical and nursing staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the hospital, which typically has an emergency department to treat urgent health problems ranging from fire. A district hospital typically is the health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care. Specialised hospitals can help reduce health care costs compared to general hospitals, a teaching hospital combines assistance to people with teaching to medical students and nurses. The medical facility smaller than a hospital is called a clinic. Hospitals have a range of departments and specialist units such as cardiology, some hospitals have outpatient departments and some have chronic treatment units. Common support units include a pharmacy, pathology, and radiology, Hospitals are usually funded by the public sector, by health organisations, by health insurance companies, or by charities, including direct charitable donations. Historically, hospitals were founded and funded by religious orders, or by charitable individuals. During the Middle Ages, hospitals served different functions from modern institutions, Middle Ages hospitals were almshouses for the poor, hostels for pilgrims, or hospital schools. The word hospital comes from the Latin hospes, signifying a stranger or foreigner, another noun derived from this, hospitium came to signify hospitality, that is the relation between guest and shelterer, hospitality, friendliness, and hospitable reception. By metonymy the Latin word then came to mean a guest-chamber, guests lodging, hospes is thus the root for the English words host hospitality, hospice, hostel and hotel. The German word Spital shares similar roots, the grammar of the word differs slightly depending on the dialect. Some patients go to a hospital just for diagnosis, treatment, or therapy and then leave without staying overnight, while others are admitted and stay overnight or for several days or weeks or months. Hospitals usually are distinguished from other types of facilities by their ability to admit and care for inpatients whilst the others. Larger cities may have several hospitals of varying sizes and facilities, some hospitals, especially in the United States and Canada, have their own ambulance service. A district hospital typically is the health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care. In California, district hospital refers specifically to a class of healthcare facility created shortly after World War II to address a shortage of beds in many local communities. Twenty-eight of Californias rural hospitals and 20 of its critical-access hospitals are District hospitals, Californias District hospitals are formed by local municipalities, have Boards that are individually elected by their local communities, and exist to serve local needs

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Health system
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There is a wide variety of health systems around the world, with as many histories and organizational structures as there are nations. In some countries, health system planning is distributed among market participants, however, health care planning has been described as often evolutionary rather than revolutionary. According to WHO, healthcare systems goals are good health for the citizens, responsiveness to the expectations of the population, progress towards them depends on how systems carry out four vital functions, provision of health care services, resource generation, financing, and stewardship. Other dimensions for the evaluation of systems include quality, efficiency, acceptability. They have also described in the United States as the five Cs, Cost, Coverage, Consistency, Complexity. Also, continuity of care is a major goal. Often health system has been defined with a reductionist perspective, for reducing it to healthcare system. In many publications, for example, both expressions are used interchangeably, the World Health Organization defines health systems as follows, A health system consists of all organizations, people and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain health. This includes efforts to influence determinants of health as well as more direct health-improving activities, a health system is therefore more than the pyramid of publicly owned facilities that deliver personal health services. It includes inter-sectoral action by staff, for example, encouraging the ministry of education to promote female education. Healthcare providers are institutions or individuals providing healthcare services and they may also work outside of direct patient care such as in a government health department or other agency, medical laboratory, or health training institution. One study based on data from the OECD concluded that all types of health care finance are compatible with an efficient health system, the study also found no relationship between financing and cost control. The term health insurance is used to describe a form of insurance that pays for medical expenses. It is sometimes used broadly to include insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial care needs. It may be provided through an insurance program, or from private insurance companies. It may be obtained on a basis or purchased by individual consumers. In each case premiums or taxes protect the insured from high or unexpected health care expenses, the benefit is typically administered by a government agency, a non-profit health fund or a corporation operating seeking to make a profit. Many government schemes also have co-payment schemes but exclusions are rare because of political pressure, the larger insurance schemes may also negotiate fees with providers

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Public health
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It is concerned with threats to health based on population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people, Public health incorporates the interdisciplinary approaches of epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental health, community health, behavioral health, health economics, public policy, mental health and occupational safety, the focus of public health intervention is to improve health and quality of life through prevention and treatment of disease and other physical and mental health conditions. This is done through surveillance of cases and health indicators, there is a great disparity in access to health care and public health initiatives between developed nations and developing nations. In the developing world, public health infrastructures are still forming, many diseases are preventable through simple, nonmedical methods. For example, research has shown that the act of hand washing with soap can prevent many contagious diseases. Public health communications programs, vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of public health measures. Measures such as these have contributed greatly to the health of populations, Public health plays an important role in disease prevention efforts in both the developing world and in developed countries, through local health systems and non-governmental organizations. The World Health Organization is the agency that coordinates and acts on global public health issues. Most countries have their own government public health agencies, sometimes known as ministries of health, for example, in the United States, the front line of public health initiatives are state and local health departments. In Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada is the agency responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response. The Public health system in India is managed by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of the government of India with state-owned health care facilities. Public health programs providing vaccinations have made strides in promoting health, including the eradication of smallpox, antibiotic resistance, also known as drug resistance, was the theme of World Health Day 2011. Although the prioritization of pressing public health issues is important, Laurie Garrett argues that there are following consequences, when foreign aid is funnelled into disease-specific programs, the importance of public health in general is disregarded. This public health problem of stovepiping is thought to create a lack of funds to other existing diseases in a given country. For example, the WHO reports that at least 220 million people suffer from diabetes. Its incidence is increasing rapidly, and it is projected that the number of diabetes deaths will double by the year 2030, the risk of type 2 diabetes is closely linked with the growing problem of obesity. The WHO’s latest estimates highlighted that globally approximately 1.5 billion adults were overweight in 2008, the United States is the leading country with 30. 6% of its population being obese

6.
Food and Drug Administration
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The Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. As of 2017, 3/4th of the FDA budget is funded by the pharmaceutical companies due to the Prescription drug user fee act and these include regulating lasers, cellular phones, condoms and control of disease on products ranging from certain household pets to sperm donation for assisted reproduction. The FDA is led by the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, appointed by the President with the advice, the Commissioner reports to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Dr. Robert M. Califf, MD is the current commissioner, who took over in February 2016 for Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the FDA has its headquarters in unincorporated White Oak, Maryland. The agency also has 223 field offices and 13 laboratories located throughout the 50 states, the United States Virgin Islands, in 2008, the FDA began to post employees to foreign countries, including China, India, Costa Rica, Chile, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. The site was renamed from the White Oak Naval Surface Warfare Center to the Federal Research Center at White Oak, the first building, the Life Sciences Laboratory, was dedicated and opened with 104 employees on the campus in December 2003. Only one original building from the facility was kept. All other buildings are new construction, the project is slated to be completed by 2017, assuming future Congressional funding While most of the Centers are located in the Washington, D. C. The Office of Regulatory Affairs is considered the eyes and ears of the agency, the Office of Regulatory Affairs is divided into five regions, which are further divided into 20 districts. Districts are based roughly on the divisions of the federal court system. Each district comprises a main office and a number of Resident Posts. ORA also includes the Agencys network of laboratories, which analyze any physical samples taken. Though samples are usually food-related, some laboratories are equipped to analyze drugs, cosmetics, the Office of Criminal Investigations was established in 1991 to investigate criminal cases. Unlike ORA Investigators, OCI Special Agents are armed, and dont focus on aspects of the regulated industries. In many cases, OCI pursues cases involving Title 18 violations, OCI Special Agents often come from other criminal investigations backgrounds, and work closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Assistant Attorney General, and even Interpol. OCI receives cases from a variety of sources—including ORA, local agencies, OCI is a smaller branch, comprising about 200 agents nationwide. The FDA frequently works with federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection. Often local and state government agencies also work with the FDA to provide regulatory inspections, the FDA regulates more than US$1 trillion worth of consumer goods, about 25% of consumer expenditures in the United States

The primitive nature of medieval medicine rendered Europe helpless to the onslaught of the Black Death in the 14th century. Fragment of a miniature from "The Chronicles of Gilles Li Muisis" (1272-1352). Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 13076-77, f. 24v.

Medical Officer Alexander Fleming, M. D., examines a portion of a 240-volume new drug application around the late 1980s. Applications grew considerably after the efficacy mandate under the 1962 Drug Amendments.